La Scala remembers Franco Zeffirelli
OperaThe museum of La Scala today opens an exhibition on the life and work of one of its favourite directors.
Zeffirelli, whose centenary falls in February ext year, first caught sight of the theatre in ruins, mounting the rubble of its stage as an interpreter to a Scottish regiment. Aged 22, he signed on as assistant to Luchino Visconti an the rest was an upward trajectory.
He was involved in 21 operas at La Scala, from designing costumes for L’italiana in Algeri in 1953 to Aida conducted by Riccardo Chailly in 2006. Hightlights were Il Turko in Italia with Maria Callas, La bohème with Karajan, Otello conducted by Carlos Kleiber, Turandot with Maazel and Don Carlos with Muti.
Franco died in June 2019, not quite making it to three figures.
“… drunk with himself, drugged by his own art, and his own personal vanity. He can only talk about himself. He has become a caricature of a maestro. […] La Scala has lost that magic. It has become the Vanity Fair of a mediocre conductor. The level of La Scala has gone down the sink.”
(Franco Zeffirelli on Muti)
How come you never appear on any other thread?
Sounds like a better description of the meglomaniac fascist-sympathizing and self-hating gay man who uttered those words.
Giorgio Strehler, arguably the greatest director of the last century, thought very highly of Riccardo Muti.
“the greatest director of the last century” … according to whom? According to Muti?
Perhaps I should have said “One of the greatest”, which he undoubtedly was for anyone who saw his ‘Nozze di Figaro” or ‘Simon Boccanegra’.
I sorely miss the great man. I feel very privileged to have experienced some of his productions live, in Vienna and at the MET. We are lucky several of signature productions are preserved on audiovisual recordings.
I visited the Scala museum in the 1980s, and I recall it as being very small and quite overcrowded with treasures. Just a few people filled the space to over capacity, causing a waiting line outside. I actually had to turn sideways to squeeze past Verdi’s little spinet!
Unless the museum has since been remodeled or expanded, I can’t imagine the exhibition being of any great size.